Congratulations! And thank you for your purchase of our Stanley Bedrock planes, we’re confident your plane will serve you well for decades to come. We take every effort to ensure your hand plane has been meticulously refurbished and works for you out of the box. In order to get the best possible performance and longest life from your plane, we have a few simple instructions to follow.
We ship all planes fully assembled with the exception of the iron and lever cap, they are taken out and wrapped separately. The plane was assembled and tuned for its normal purpose (smoother, jack, jointer, etc) before shipment so there is no need to adjust the frog, simply put the iron in place and lock down the lever cap.
The iron was sharpened with a 25-degree primary bevel and was honed to 4000 grit. There is no micro-secondary bevel or camber on any iron we ship, should you desire either of these it’s easy enough to add them. Test shavings should have been included with your plane to show the various thicknesses tested with.
If your plane was finished with japanning it was cured for a minimum of 30 days before leaving our shop but can sometimes require another month to fully cure. During this period the japanning could get scratched but applying a bit of 3-in-1 oil, using a soft cotton cloth, can easily clean this up. For the first month after receiving the plane we recommend this application of 3-in-1 oil on the japanning after each use to help maintain the finish while it fully cures. After this month no other maintenance is necessary.
If your plane was refurbished with a new knob or handle they were finished with several coats of Danish oil and allowed to cure for a week. We prefer the feel of natural wood but also do this so you can choose the final finish you desire. Shellac or varnish can be applied directly on the Danish oil finished wood without problem.
Should you have any use & care questions or problems with your hand plane don’t hesitate to contact us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/WillowWoodShop or via email to me directly at darren@thegardenspace.com.
Thanks,
Darren Young
